Each generation, game companies try to move gamers deeper into the experience and expand how we interact with our consoles. And they fail. Every single time. The failure isn’t because it’s a bad idea (well, sometimes it’s a bad idea). Most of the time its because the idea was poorly implemented, lacked support, or simply didn’t work. In this article we'll go back through each console generation and look at some of those failed attempts at innovation.
If you read Kotaku even semi-regularly, you already know that Xbox has been in a weird spot for some time now. And with today’s news that both Xbox boss Phil Spencer and President Sarah Bond are leaving and the new head of the brand will be a former Meta exec who previously lead Microsoft’s AI division, I think it’s time to call it. Xbox is dead. Time of death: February 20, 2026
This brand died in the last 2 years of 360 since Kinect announcement.. downfall started all of a sudden until reaching the point of no return with xbox 1 DRM disasters
So ready to defend that you posted it twice.
In any event, I have a more accurate quote: "It's dead, Jim".
Also Mark Twain:
I have never wished death on anyone but I have read some obituaries with great pleasure.
While I normally agree... The future of xbox is on shaky ground. Well, xbox as we know it. Im not sure what they are shooting for but who they put in charge mixed with Phil retiring and bond just flat out leaving. It's not looking good.
Im with you but in western countries I have noticed a trend to put women in control to prevent any kind of critics.
Copilot is running the xbox division now, its first official act was fire Spencer and Bond then sell Xbox for scraps.
Oh come on, Xbox has been dead for at least 10 years now. I think what’s more important right now is Playstation’s death that is very slowly but surely happening through mismanagement and greed.
Some what agree. Sony is in a better position to unf#$k themselves. Xbox isn't.
He's being clowned on by the entire internet but i have been clowning on him way before he became CEO. I hate modern PS so much man. To this day i have no idea how Astro Bot happend in this terrible PS era but that was clearly a miracle.
Every. Time! They compare the closing of a studio (one I liked, mind you, but they know their business better than internet dwellers) to the departure of not one but TWO major figureheads at Xbox. On top of Xbox's other problems, they are also now selling their games everywhere (not just PC).
Sorry diehard Xbox fanatics, we've been down this road before. PlayStation has closed studios. It happens. Maybe they weren't pulling their weight. Maybe they have a restructure in place. What ever the case, it won't come any close to tanking their brand. Xbox isn't in that boat. As a piece of hardware, it is all but irrelevant (hanging on only because of Game Pass at this point). It serves no other purpose because you don't even need that console to play its games. If it was just Xbox/PC, that would be different, but here we are.
So, this isn't the SonyToo that y'all love to hang on. Things are not good for Xbox hardware. At all. It is about time to start accepting that.
Respectfully, This is probably one of my least favorite tactics in making an argument.
I'll give you an example: If I like the color red, it doesn't mean I hate the color blue.
People lamenting the (potential) demise of the xbox brand has nothing to do with sony or playstation. It has everything to do with xbox. Now, for the sake of argument, you could say that Sony and Microsoft are two peas in a pod, and that they've both made absolutely baffling and worryingly stupid decisions in the recent past. But I truly believe that Xbox would be shooting itself in the foot regardless of Sony's presence (I look at you, Xbox One reveal with always online DRM and the inability to share games).
Sony, on the other hand, is making stupid decisions to stay competitive with the market, and like Microsoft, is seemingly forcing by proverbial gunpoint talented developers to try to make the next GAAS experience and never learning their lesson. I believe that Microsoft squandering RARE is the equivalent of Sony squandering Naughty Dog. Neither platform really knows what they want to be, BUT Sony is alot further along in figuring it out before Microsoft pulls out another revolver and takes aim at another of it's own toes.
Xbox died after the Xbox 360. The Xbox One was mediocre, the Series X was game shy. I'm glad Phil is retiring.
Exaggerated projection of xbox problems onto Sony. This is what gave xbox the extra slack all these generations to eventually run themselves into the ground.
This is why the views and comments are low, with lame articles that use divide-and-conquer pretensions.
To be fair "divide and conquer pretensions" have been present in the comment section of this website for years regardless of the articles title, composition or intent. It's therefore unlikely that's what's playing a part in low viewership and commenting.
Rovio “found it difficult to advance its initially planned business development,” says Sega.
Sato and his R&D team were responsible for the creation of Sega’s arcade and home console hardware, including the Master System, Genesis / Mega Drive, Saturn, and Dreamcast.
I still own those systems, and many games that were built for them.
Thank you for an amazing part of my childhood.
Rest in Peace Legend.
He joined SEGA in 1971, wow. The Mega Drive, Saturn and Dreamcast hold the best memories for me, more so the Mega Drive. Thanks for the memories, Hideki-sama.
Sega's swan song, their best and most memorable console, the dreamcast. it will last for generations
Dreamcast was a very good console, with some minor setbacks, no 2nd stick and could've used a bit more disc space. The main thing that let it down was support, the short time it was on the market it did still bring in a bunch of really good titles, if only it had another 2-3 years and more longer story based games as well as the arcade games.
I would say because of the above the Mega Drive / Genesis is probably their best, simply because of the wide range of support and amount of quality games.
there was a point in time where the DC was meant to have a MATROX gpu possibly, as well as other contenders and if it had along with a possible DVD drive and price hike it would be a totally different beast.
Yeah, I loved the Dreamcast, but massive oversight not including a right analog stick. A very strange design decision considering that dual analog was already standardized by Sony during the PS1 generation. Virtual On was literally unplayable on the controller because of it.
I was 8 years old when Dreamcast came out I don’t know for other people but it was the coolest thing to me when I could go play it at my older siblings . I finally bought my own Dreamcast around 2005 , when I was in high school and was old enough to save money . Had a blast with jet set radio , sonic adventures 1&2 , shuffle , code Veronica , Power stone 1&2 , crazy taxi . House of the dead Arcade style shooter. . I even had the reindeer bot CD for burnt games . Oh and I remember lending a friend a copy of SF alpha 3 Dreamcast with the box …. Dude never gave it back to me 🤣
Shenmue blew me away, and took me to a place i had never been before (until years later)
Shenmue was unreal back in the day. It was painful waiting for the sequel and it perfectly carried on from the first game. Shenmue 3 on the PS4 looks like a Dreamcast game and carried on as if it was running on the Dreamcast. A Shenmue trilogy is overdue. Not sure if we’ll ever see Shenmue 4, but SEGA went with Yakuza, a Shenmue clone, which is probably why Shenmue was forgotten. If Shenmue had been ported to the PS2 after the Dreamcast dropped off, things may have been different.
I love my Sega Genesis. I have childhood memories playing that console which will never fade.
It was the best console for sport games by a long shot. Having a UK Mega Drive in 1991, playing US and Japanese games using a Honeybee adaptor was awesome. I think Europe only got around 250 games out of around 800 that got released.
This is a weird article. It names some successful controllers (DS4, Wii Fit)
Some obscure ones (2600 keypad was not for games, it was for the Basic programming cart- most people couldn't afford real computers at the time)
But then they ignore some real controller disasters, like the Atari 5200, the Colecovision (the actual controllers, not the steering wheel).
I'd throw all those PC "analog sticks" of the 90s that seemed to break after a few uses.
To list the PSeye and original kinect is a bit daft surely, as the kinect and the new PSeye sold really well? Though I guess I'm missing the point.
Very strange article...
I can't quite understand what parameters are being used to class some of these controllers as 'failures'.
Yes, you could argue that neither Kinect for the 360, PS Move or Wii Fit had no real killer games released, that used them to their full potential... but if we are going by sales did any of those 3 fail?
Kinect sold 25 million plus if I remember correctly... is that a failure?
And as for throwing in Kinect for Xbox One, DS4 and Wii U tablet... aren't we a bit early in this generation to class those as failures?
I'm putting this quite dreadful article down to a distinct lack of knowledge about the Gaming Industry...
If you are going for failed controller systems...
How about the Activision Tony Hawks Skateboard, that was pretty much universally panned. Can't remember the exact title, but a strange PS2 Power Glove by a 3rd party developer and the Wii U Draw Tablet that pretty much bankrupt THQ... those I can see as being failures...
Hell... I don't know why the author didn't just go for broke and say the Wii Remote and Nunchuck too...
Thanks for reading the article. It was fun going down memory lane writing it. The Udraw wasnt listed because only first party controllers were considered for the list since they had the biggest chance for success and support. Otherwise everything from the Konami LaserScope to the Action Chair would have been listed. My biggest criteria for failing wasn't by the number of sales, but whether or not they succeeded in expanding controllers from the status quo. Some of them made a huge splash, and then faded away in the hearts and minds of gamers. For example, I'm looking at my PSMove right now which hasn't been plugged in for nearly 2 years now. And my 360 Kinect is behind a pile of wires (eventhough I still use the 360)
The Atari Keyboard controller had just as many games released for it was it did nongames (Concentration, Codebreaker, etc) which is why I added it.
The 5200 had a miserable controller,but I didnt put it on the list because many of the features it had still live on today (analog sticks, dedicated control buttons like start/pause). The ones that made the list were controllers that were trying to change the way games were played, and they didnt.
Again, thanks a lot for taking the time to read the article, even if you dont completely agree with it.